


Snapshots 3

by wildwinterwitch



Series: Meetings [6]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Single Father (TV)
Genre: Advent Calendar 2012, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-14
Updated: 2013-09-14
Packaged: 2017-12-26 13:09:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/966296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildwinterwitch/pseuds/wildwinterwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of advent calendar drabbles with additional scenes for <i>I Met a Traveller</i>, sometimes from non-pov characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots 3

Prologue

The Doctor stared dumbly at the detector in his hands, but he didn’t see it. The girl, Evie, reminded him of Rose at that age. But apparently, Rose wasn’t her mother, even if Evie’s father was Mr Tyler.  
Could she be Rose’s little sister?

 _Nah, you daft man._ Evie wouldn’t call Rose Dad’s girlfriend.

He sat between the lions guarding the steps.

Rose was here, in Glasgow. And she had found love again.

His hearts skipped several beats and he had to gasp for air. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. She was his, but he’d lost her.

 

One

Jenny paid and left the supermarket as quickly as possible. Her hearts were struggling to keep up with her need to run and hide.

She felt rejected all over again, although of course this time it wasn’t the man’s fault. How could she have been so stupid as to think he was really Dad who’d come in search of her to take her back to her universe?

She should have known the man wasn’t her Dad. She hadn’t been able to sense him, feel him.

Tears began streaming down her cheeks as she heaved the bag onto the counter.

 

Six

Paul’s heart was beating fast as he watched Dad pick up a pen and sign the permit slips. Dad’s name appeared in blue on both slips, the fat D and the energetic T. It was a beautiful signature, allowing him and Paul to attend Miss Redfern’s class.

She was very pretty, and she laughed a lot. She listened to everyone and always had something nice to say. Also, she made History sound interesting. There were actual stories behind the events, real people with friends and hopes. They had disappeared one day, and they wanted to find out more about them.

 

Nine

Lily watched Lucy’s younger siblings set up the boardgame with practised ease. She’d have loved being a sister.

She didn’t feel left out; in fact, she felt welcome. They didn’t treat her as a stranger, but as a friend they’d known for a long time, and they made it easy for her to open up. Particularly Lucy seemed genuinely interested in her. And she liked her Dad, who treated her like an adult. Rose was nice too, and she wondered if she could trust them to understand who she was. But really, she didn’t want to stay that long.

-:-

He lay in bed, staring into the darkness. Rose hadn’t called all day, and he was beginning to worry. Donna had given herself away when she’d agreed earlier to pass on his love to Rose. Which meant that Donna was at Muirbank rather than in A&E at the hospital. There was no accident on the M9.

He didn’t normally check, but he was worried sick about Rose. Something was bothering her. Or distracting her.

At least he had the comfort of knowing that all his children were accounted for.

What if Rose had had accident?

He sat up, wide awake.

 

Twelve

He could hear her in the hall. All his senses had been tuned to her since he started coming round in the hospital bed. Also, he could sense her. Feel her. 

He was terrified of meeting her.

And he couldn’t wait.

She was wearing a ring, so she wasn’t his any more. The idea took some getting used to. He was happy for her.

She entered the room, but he couldn’t look up from the toaster. It was probably ruined now. All he could think of was Rose.

Her joy and nervousness were rolling off her in waves. He wasn’t alone.

 

Thirteen

 _That bloody Time Lord will be the death of me,_ Donna thought after he’d made her jump. She had just returned from her walk and hung up her dripping coat when a bright flash of light and a thunderclap had torn through the console room’s quiet hum.

At second glance, however, and third, Donna realised that the man wasn’t the Doctor. He looked like him, but he wasn’t him. His hair was all wrong (but still great), and although his eyes were sad, it was the wrong kind of sadness. And he called her doctor. 

“Who are you?” she demanded.

 

Fourteen 

When Lottie saw how distraught Lily was, she pulled her into her arms. She had the most awful idea that this was about the trauma of the bomb nights and being stranded here. Somehow, she managed to guide her to the sofa in the lounge.

“What happened, Lily?”

“Dave disappeared to the other universe.”

“What?”

“It’s my fault! I wanted to have a look. To understand.”

“ _Oh je, du arme,_ ” she whispered, rubbing her shoulders.

Lily stiffened. “You’re German.” She jumped to her feet. “Leave me alone!”

“What?”

“Your lot killed my parents. And… and do you have any idea?”

-:-

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Lottie said calmly. 

The tension left Lily’s body at her words, and Lily coloured.

“My lot did kill your parents. I’m awfully sorry for that.”

“I keep forgetting it’s 2010,” Lily sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I just… find it hard to understand that the war is over and we live in a different world now.”

“I keep forgetting you’re from 1941. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like.”

Lily seemed at a loss for words. “Can you forgive me? It was a terrible thing to say.”

 

Eighteen

After she had left fruit and veg, she turned back to have another look at the bloke she’d just talked to. She was a little worried about him, both because he had gone very pale and because of the story he told her. But he was gone.

He either was a good actor or his distress had been real, and he hadn’t just tried to chat her up. There had been something about his eyes that told her his reaction was genuine.

She checked her watch. She was running late already. There was no time to find and check on him.

 

Twenty-five

He ignored the familiar prickling on the edge of his conscious mind. There was yet another telepath nearby, but there was only Rose, and she must be growing more confident. 

He ignored the signature the prickling carried, telling him that this wasn’t Rose.

It was a familiar signature, but it couldn’t be. Wrong universe. Wrong… everything. Jenny was dead. Despite her two hearts she hadn’t been Time Lord enough to regenerate. 

_Doctor._ That was Rose.

 _Dad?_ That was Jenny.

He stiffened.

“Doctor?” Evie asked.

“I’ll be back in a sec.”

He hurried into the hall and halfway down the stairs.

 

Thirty-Two

He touched Dave Tiler’s arm as he held out a mug of tea for him. When Dave looked up, he was startled by the sadness in his eyes. It was like looking in the mirror, but, he added bitterly, this man could probably actually face looking at himself. Rose was going to heal him, just like she had managed making him feel better. She had that kind of magic.

He had only one heart.

He had Rose and the children.

His own hearts sped up as he realised that Dave had helped him get his own child back.

 

Thirty-two

“How does it feel? Being here?” Lucy asked as they stood in the hall. 

“Strange. Good.” Lily turned to kiss her. She wrapped her in her arms and they held each other for a long time. Lucy tried not to think of Dad and that this was the beginning of the end of her and Lily.

Lily’s room was a spare bedroom now, but it was empty, so they curled up in the lounge, wrapped in a blanket. Lucy slid her hands underneath Lily’s jumper. She needed to feel her warm skin. “I’m so scared.”

“I love you, Lucy.”

-:-

“Fuck me.”

Dave stilled for a moment. Rose was writhing beneath him, her skin hot and starting to get sticky. She was very wet around him and so tight.

_Fuck me._

It was such a crude expression, but he understood her need to feel him and to reduce this to pure lust. Reassurance. He was aching for her too, and he wanted to lose himself in her as he slid in and out of her wet warmth, her walls rippling around him as he drove her to completion. He’d been so terrified of never seeing her again. He rolled his hips.


End file.
